Nivea Daily Essentials Hydration Primer Dry/Sensitive

As you know reading my previous blogs i seem to have primer coming out of my ears! The world clearly has gone primer mad!

I usually tend to use 'Pore Professional' Primer by Benefit and 'Airbrush Away' Primer by No7 which costs me a fortune!

Im so glad a high street brand has finally brought out an affordable product! With this being a great price I use it everyday under my foundation and find it to be lightweight and hydrating which is what I need as my skin is rather dry.

It works well to make my foundation last all day. It not only lasts it helps keep my skin hydrated. Not a huge amount to say about this other than I like it and its a great budget primer.

It comes in Dry/Sensitive and Normal/Combination and I purchased mine from Superdrug for £3.99!

http://www.superdrug.com/face/nivea-daily-essentials-hydration-primer-drysensitive/invt/556950

What primers do you use?

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Neal's Yard Remedies Bee Lovely Hand Cream

Normally I’m not the biggest fan of honey, I find the scent a little to raw for me, but this hand cream has a wonderful blend of organic essential orange oil that is sweet but subtle and blends in beautifully with the honey.

At first I was way too overzealous with the amount I used and squeezed out a huge dollop that took forever to rub in and left my hands feeling quite greasy. So a word from experience, you really don’t need much at all to get a good result from this cream. When you use the right amount (for my little hands, about a large pea sized dot) you aren’t left with any residue or greasiness, which is a fair rarity when essential oils are used.

It’s quite a thick cream formula but is ultra smooth and soft and is easily absorbed by the skin. Like I said the smell is divine. As you first apply it, the citrusy zingy orange is quite strong but that quickly blends down as you massage it in and you are left with a very subtle hint of orange oil. I wouldn’t say the scent lasts particularly long on the skin but it’s very enjoyable while it lasts, careful though you don’t get too carried away enjoying it, I have recently received some very quizzical looks on the tube, no doubt people are wondering what’s going on with the ‘hand sniffer’! haha it just smells amazing and really perks me up when I’m tired in the mornings. It’s actually designed to energise and lift the spirits and I genuinely think it does a little!

For a 50ml tube you pay £10 online (I got this little beauty free with April's edition of Marie Claire!!) and you can also buy it in a little set with some wildflower seeds. Not bad seeing as some of the proceeds (5% I believe) go to helping raise awareness to save the bees! 🐝

Ps. Of course it is also paraben and SLS etc free!

Benefits:

• Nourishing
• Softening
• Protecting
• Helps raise money for our bee-friends Buglife, Landlife and Pesticide Action Network UK who are working to help save our precious bees!!

How to Use:

Apply to dry, rough or dulled skin. Keep on you for instant energizing, uplifting skin softening.

BareMinerals READY Luminizer in "The Shining Moment"

I am a big fan of the Bare Minerals/Escentuals Ready products (I have their powders and shadows) so I was excited to see something new from them.

I bought this little beauty from Debenhams in Milton Keynes and luckily they had a sale on all beauty products and I managed to buy this at £13 instead of £26 which made me extremely happy as you probably guessed!

This luminizer comes in two shades, I got The Shining Moment, which is a golden colour. There is also a pinky beige one called The Love Affair.

The look is really cute, with sleek white packaging, and a cute design pressed into the powder inside.

This highlighter gives a subtle natural glow, with no visible shimmer. You don't have to worry about over doing it with this product, but if you are looking for something that really gives a lot of shine and has shimmer, this is not it.

This product gets a thumbs up from me, and I may have to get the other colour as well in the future.

I really like it on my cheekbones and I even use this as a eyeshadow when I want my eyes to stand out...I cannot wait to use this during the summer!!

Do you use BareMinerals products?

Sx

Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder

My previous blog was about Laura Mercier's amazing Foundation Primer and when I purchased this I also bought her Loose Setting Powder which I have now fallen in love with!

Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder has been a much sought after product and has been a favourite amongst makeup lovers over the years. This was actually my second ever purchases from Laura Mercier! I’d contemplated buying it for a little while, but eventually I was convinced after reading all the glowing reviews it had received.

The Laura Mercier Loose Setting Powder in Translucent is a lightweight, sheer and finely milled talc. I’ve tried using this with a powder brush and also powder puff, but found a brush gave the most air brushed finish whereas the powder puff made my makeup look a bit too smothered. It controls shine pretty well too so I don’t have to worry about brushing it around every 5 minutes!

The setting powder comes in a circular powder pot with sifter which is great for shaking the powder out when using. I always shake a little into the lid and transfer it from the lid to my brush and then shake any excess powder off the brush.

Laura Mercier products unfortunately don’t come cheap and this 29g pot costs £29. Given that you only have to use a tiny amount each time though so hopefully it'll go a long way! You can pick up Laura Mercier products from places such as John Lewis or House of Fraser.

What Loose Powders do you use and why?

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Laura Mercier Foundation Primer

Laura Mercier Foundation Primer creates a smooth, invisible layer that acts as a buffer to outside elements and expertly holds foundation. This water-based formula guarantees that your makeup stays fresh and colour-true for hours. With vitamins A, C, and E added to protect the skin, Foundation Primer is ideal for all skin types.

With my dry and sensitive skin I have to have a foundation primer, even with cream/liquid foundations. Because of this I have tried loads of primers and this primer has been the best as of yet. I love it. It not only helps my dry skin problems but it also helps keep my foundation on until I'm ready to take it off. This product is also lightweight so I have no problems with it feeling too heavy with my foundation.

I do not find this primer to be oily like a lot of primers out there so I do believe it would be good for oily skin types as well.

Features: Light cream-gel texture, oil-free formulation, Vitamins A,C,E, non comodegenic

Benefits: Smooths skin, prolongs foundation wear

Perfect for: All skin types. This is the primer I end up using most in my kit.

What primer do you use and why??

Sx

Weekly Boots Buys!

Hello guys!

Thought I'd tell you about my weekly boots shopping trip... I tend to go into boots on a weekly basis and buy stuff that I don't necessarily 'need' but it's more of a want really!

Anywhooo...I was slowly running outfoxed foundation and I usually wear Maxfactor Ageless Elixir in Light Ivory 40 but I fancied trying out the new No7 range and needed to get colour matched!

I spoke to a lovely lady at the No7 counter and explained that I wanted a full coverage foundation but wanted it to look natural and not heavy on the skin. She then took off all of my makeup using the No7 Beautiful Skin range (which is the skin care range that I use anyway)..

She then proceeded to colour match me using a very clever machine, she tested out both sides of my face and found that my left cheek came up as 'Calico' and my right cheek as 'Cool Vanilla'.

I was happy with the Cool Vanilla as it gave my skin a nice warm colour to it as I have a very fair complexion. The foundation that the lady recommended was 'Protect & Perfect - Younger Looking Skin Foundation' - this basically smoothes and moisturises for younger looking skin and gives you a flawless and radiant complexion!

After using this foundation I will usually add concealer under my eyes (depending how much sleep I've had?! zzz) and then add No7 Translucent Loose Powder to help smooth the foundation and hide any flaws etc.

In boots at the moment they have a 'Buy two No7 products and get a free Beauty Bag worth £28' and because I LOVE No7 I couldn't really resist so I decided to buy the new Limited Edition Tip Toes Nail Varnish from their Spring collection along with the foundation.

I was pleasantly surprised to find inside this really cute pink No7 bag some small travel sized products - Mulberry Moisture Drench Lipstick, Black Extreme Length Mascara, Mauve Stay Perfect Eyeshadow and Protect & Perfect Intense Day Cream'

What No7 products do you like or use? - Let me know!

Happy reading Guys!

Sx

Bourjois Delice de Poudre Bronzing Powder

The bronzer comes in a little case which opens up like a little book and is kept closed by a concealed magnet. The Bourjois bronzer is available in two shades, 51 and 52. I have shade 51 which is the lighter of the two shades and I think that this is suitable for light to medium skin tones and i'm ridiculously pale so this was a big step for me!

 

 

 

As you can see from the photos the bronzer is shaped like chocolate and it also smells like it! (It doesn’t smell once applied to skin). The bronzer is mainly matte with just the slightest glimmer of gold flecks through it. I find that as it’s mainly matte you can use it for contouring your cheeks as well as using all over your face for a sun-kissed glow.

 

The gold flecks are so subtle that you can’t even see them from the pictures.

The colour is quite pigmented and is easily bendable. I find that this product lasts all day without needing to be touched up.

 

I rarely use bronzers and i absoulotely love this bronzer and couldn’t recommend it enough as it only cost £6.99!

 

I bought this little beauty from Boots and it's usually on a '3 for 2 and get the cheapest free'

 

What do you think guys?

 

Sx